September 13, 2025
By Danial Aziz
PESHAWAR
In the bustling lanes of Board Bazaar, known locally as Mini Kabul, Gul Lal has been running a poultry business for the past 45 years. His wife is Pakistani origin, his children were born on Pakistani soil, yet despite being rooted so deeply in the country, he faces the looming threat of deportation to Afghanistan—a country that has now become foreign to him after nearly half a century away.
“I have spent my entire life here, my wife is Pakistani,” Gul Lal recounts, his voice heavy with uncertainty. “If I am sent to Afghanistan, my family will remain here. My children are not getting admission to schools, my business is suffering, and I am constantly fighting a legal battle.”
His story is not unique. Across Pakistan, thousands of Afghan families find themselves caught in an increasingly desperate struggle for survival as the country accelerates its “Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan.” For many, the only refuge lies in Pakistan’s courts—a last resort that has become their lifeline.
A flooding of court petitions
The surge in legal cases reflects a broader crisis affecting Afghanistan’s last legally recognized refugees in Pakistan. As deportation pressures intensify, Afghan nationals are flooding courtrooms with petitions based on marriage to Pakistani citizens or birth on Pakistani soil—legal grounds they hope will secure their right to remain.
“Afghan refugees are not getting hearings in institutions, which is why they are coming to courts,” explains advocate Nauman Mohib Kaka Khel, who represents dozens of such cases. “Some have Pakistani wives, others Pakistani husbands—they all want residence in Pakistan on this basis.”
The legal challenges these families face extend far beyond deportation fears. Without proper identity documents, Afghan residents cannot enroll their children in schools, access healthcare in hospitals, or obtain legal employment. “This is why turning to courts has become their only remaining option,” Kaka Khel adds.
The cases flooding Pakistani courts represent a humanitarian crisis wrapped in legal complexity. Families who have built lives spanning generations find themselves reduced to case numbers, their futures hanging on judicial interpretations of citizenship laws and humanitarian obligations.
Deportation in full drive
The scale of Pakistan’s repatriation drive is staggering. According to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Home Department, the process of returning and deporting Afghan citizens continues at an accelerated pace. Just yesterday, 2,491 individuals were sent to Afghanistan through the Torkham border, of whom 746 were illegal residents.
Overall, more than 743,000 Afghan citizens have returned through Khyber Pakhtunkhwa alone. This includes 605,992 illegal residents, 89,467 Proof of Registration (PoR) cardholders, and 48,254 Afghan Citizen Card holders who have been repatriated.
While the majority of returns have occurred through the Torkham border crossing, the deportations extend nationwide. More than 30,000 Afghan residents have been sent back from other provinces including Islamabad, Punjab, Azad Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan.
These statistics represent more than bureaucratic efficiency—they reflect the dismantling of communities, the separation of families, and the forced uprooting of lives that span decades.
A lifeline from the courts
Amid this humanitarian crisis, the Peshawar High Court has provided crucial relief to Afghan families. In a significant ruling, Justice Waqar Ahmad and Justice Muhammad Ijaz Khan temporarily halted the deportation of 51 Afghan families and directed authorities to establish new and transparent procedures for resolving citizenship matters.
The court ordered that applicants submit their cases to NADRA service delivery centers, from where they would be forwarded to the Ministry of Safron after verification. If no objections are raised within fifteen days, their Afghan Citizen Cards or PoR Cards would be cancelled and Pakistani identity cards issued instead.
The court emphasized that affected individuals should not be harassed or deported in such cases and should be provided protection until the legal process is completed.
This judicial intervention represents more than legal procedure—it acknowledges the human reality behind the statistics. For families like Gul Lal’s, it offers hope that their decades of contribution to Pakistani society might finally be recognized.
International pressure mounts
As Pakistan’s repatriation drive accelerates, international concern is growing. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has issued a pointed appeal to Pakistan, calling on the country to uphold its long-standing humanitarian approach toward Afghan refugees and extend the legal stay of those still in need of international protection.
In a statement from Geneva, UNHCR Representative to Afghanistan Arafat Jamal specifically highlighted the vulnerability of groups at heightened risk if forced to return. The agency stands ready to support Pakistan in developing practical mechanisms to identify vulnerable individuals and expand regulated migration pathways for Afghans.
“Without additional funding, we will not be able to sustain life-saving assistance for Afghan families facing these overlapping crises,” Jamal warned, announcing an updated regional appeal for $258.6 million to address the crisis.
Crisis within crisis: UNHCR
The UNHCR’s intervention comes as more than 554,000 Afghans have returned since April, with the pace dramatically accelerating. In the first week of September alone, nearly 100,000 people crossed back from Pakistan, stretching reception capacities to their limits.
The forced repatriation occurs against the backdrop of Afghanistan’s deteriorating humanitarian situation. The UNHCR warns of a “crisis within a crisis” as deportations coincide with devastating earthquakes in many of the same areas where returnees are arriving.
Since the start of the year, approximately 2.6 million Afghans have returned from neighboring countries, many against their will. Some have not set foot in Afghanistan for decades, while others are entering the country for the first time. The agency has encountered families who had just returned from Pakistan before losing their homes again to earthquakes.
Adding another layer of complexity, the UNHCR has been forced to temporarily suspend operations at its cash and support centers across Afghanistan due to restrictions preventing national female UN staff from entering UN compounds. These centers typically helped around 7,000 people daily with cash support, protection services, and other essential assistance.
“It is not possible to serve women without female staff,” the UNHCR statement emphasized, calling for the immediate lifting of these restrictions.
Lives in limbo
For families caught in this legal and humanitarian maze, each day brings new uncertainty. The deportation process that was meant to address Pakistan’s economic and security concerns has evolved into a human tragedy affecting hundreds of thousands of lives.
Mixed families—where one spouse is Pakistani and the other Afghan—face particular hardship. Children born in Pakistan find themselves stateless, unable to access basic services despite knowing no other home. Businesses built over decades face collapse as their Afghan owners confront deportation.
The court cases, while offering hope, represent only a fraction of those affected. Most Afghan families lack the resources or knowledge to navigate Pakistan’s legal system, leaving them vulnerable to immediate deportation.
As Pakistan continues to implement its repatriation policy, the humanitarian crisis deepens. The UNHCR’s call for extended protection acknowledges what legal advocates have long argued—that blanket deportations fail to account for the complex realities of families and communities built over generations.
The Peshawar High Court’s intervention offers a model for how legal processes might address individual circumstances while respecting both humanitarian obligations and national sovereignty. However, the scale of the crisis demands broader policy solutions that recognize the legitimate claims of long-term residents while addressing Pakistan’s concerns.
For Gul Lal and thousands like him, the outcome of these legal battles will determine not just where they live, but whether their families remain intact and their children have a future. As he continues to run his poultry business in Mini Kabul, serving customers who have known him for decades, he embodies the human cost of policies that struggle to balance national interests with humanitarian obligations.